18 December 2013

Slag Troll Tactica: Your Guide to Spitting Acid For Fun and Profit

Slag Troll is one of our more versatile light warbeasts, with the ability to buff, spit acid, and do some melee. One of our "elemental" light warbeasts, along with the Pyre Troll (fire), Storm Troll (electricity), Swamp Troll (water), his niche is Acid. With his habit of eating metal, he's a real kick in the teeth to factions that like to field a lot of jacks. The model itself is totally badassed, with bits of metal poking through his skin, making oozing wounds that would make a pain giver cringe.

Battlefield RoleAs a light warbeast, the Slag provides decent ranged support, a nice buff animus, fury generation, transfers, and some limited combat capabilities. He can be used to weaken models before they're hit with a melee charge. Against anything with construct, he's very nasty in the ranged roll, with the potential to finish things off in melee.CardStatsSPD: Typical Dire Troll SpeedSTR: +1 over Pyre TrollMAT: AverageRAT: 1 below average. Often not a problem, since his targets are low DEF.DEF: Typical Troll DEFARM: +1 above typical light

Cast Iron Stomach Allows him to "eat" constructs in melee, and regain health. This includes Circle constructs, some battle engines and warjacks.

Vitriol If he's hit in melee, the attack model gains Corrosion continuous effect. This can be nice against one wound weapon master models.

Acid TouchHis animus, which provides +2 to melee damage rolls, immunity to corrosion, and critical corrosion. The main advantage is +2 to damage, but situationally immunity to corrosion can be good on key models, like your warcaster.

Spew AcidTwo shots at POW12, which can really do a number on non-living models via Erosion. Between boosting damage, and the extra die from Erosion, you're now at 4D6 + 12, and with two attacks make some serious threats against non-living models. Only real disadvantage is RNG8.

ClawsA couple of POW13 melee attacks. About average for a light warbeast. They're open fists, so double handed throws and all the other fun power attacks. They can become very nasty with the addition of Acid Touch, which you'll often want cast by the warlock to save Fury.Warlocks!

Grim1Grim does a lot to help the Slag Troll overcome RAT5. First, he has his Snare Gun, which can knock down targets. Second, his feat reduces enemy DEF by 3, and makes it unlikely survivors will be charging the Slag. Marked for Death can also reduce def, and stacks with the feat. Third, Grim's Cross-Country can provide Hunter, which allows the Bomber to ignore Forests, Concealment, and cover. The Slag Troll is also an excellent Return Fire target, since he can live through the original attack, and potentially Spit Acid back.

Grim2Once again Grim does a lot to help the Slag Troll. His feat grants Snipe, and +2 to ranged attack rolls. Krump has the Snare Gun for knock down, with is a bit tricky with his RAT6. Grim himself has Mage Sight, allowing the Slag Troll to ignore Stealth. Very nice for dealing with Nightmare, or Occulation. Mirage and Pursuit can allow the Slag out of activation movement, allowing him to reposition without losing the Aiming bonus. (Mirage is often better on a unit) Finally Mortality can provide a nice boost.

Grissel1/Grissel2/Madrak1/Madrak2/BorkaThese casters are mainly infantry casters, and often take either the Slag Troll or the Pyre troll as a source of Fury and as a buff for the damage of the infantry. He can also add a nice ranged element to an otherwise melee focused force.

GunnbjornAdding a Slag or two to a Gunnbjorn beast gun line can work out nicely, since two the Slag's two attacks can be boosted via Guided Fire, and his animus provides a much needed melee damage boost, without requiring the more expensive Mauler. He's also slightly nicer than the Pyre Troll in this role, due to his higher rate of fire.

CalandraShe can help the Slag Troll hit via her feat, Fate Blessed, and Befuddle. Befuddle allows you to turn enemy models around for a back strike bonus. Fate Blessed can also boost damage rolls. Finally Force Blow can knock down models, making his shots more likely to hit.

Synergies

ImpalerProbably the biggest synergy available to the Slag Troll is the Impaler's Far Strike, which can extend the Acid Spits to a decent range.

Blitzer/BouncerTheir animus's provide a way to move engaging infantry away from the Slag Troll, allowing him to continue making ranged attacks. The Blitzer can often be found in beast gun lines, so it's a nice trick to pull off once in a while, but not something to build around.

Kriel Warriors/Fennblades/Burrowers/Long Riders/ScoutsInfantry units can be very useful for running in front of the Slag Troll to prevent a retaliatory strike once he's spit his acid. Since he's doesn't have an AOE you do not have to worry about this drifting back in the case of misses.

Long Riders/BurrowersMost of the infantry units we have don't care if the buff is to STR ala the Rage animus, or something else. However, the Long Rider's mount attack is NOT strength based, and as such, Rage does not boost it. Similarly the Burrower's Point Blank shot is also not boosted by a STR boost. However, Acid Touch, and Burning Fists (Pyre) will, since their boost is to damage.

TrollbloodScrum -Defined-

The word "scrummage" is a modification of "scrimmage" (the form of the word previously used in rugby and still used in American and Canadian football), which in turn derives from or is a cognate of "skirmish". The term was used in the laws of rugby union for a long time before being permanently contracted to just "scrum". ~Wikipedia